Linoleum cutter



June 16, 1953 s; F. BOBROWSKI ET AL 2,641,834

' LINOLEUM CUTTER Filed NOV. 3, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l rmrllllllll 30 ill-5n INVENTOR. STFINLEY l-T BOBROWSK/ STFIBQI'LEY L. BoBRowsK/ TORNEY use.

, iently be embodied in practice.

Fig. 1 is aplan view showing'the improyedlim UNITED s-TAr-Es PATENT emeej 2,641,834 I LINOLEUM o e-ra Stanley Bobrows ki, New Brita-in, and StanleyLBObrowski, Bristol,,-(lonn.

Application November 3, 1343,;SerialNo. 125,3, 14

1 claim. (01. 30 287) This invention relates to cutters for thick she'et materialsuch as linoleum and other'floor coverings, and more particularly to .a manually held and operated cutter whichis adaptedto out strips of uniform width irom the edge of a sheet of material.

YOne objectof this invention is to provide a linoleum cutter of the above nature having guide means which is so arranged as to completely embrace the edge portion whichisto be cut from v the sheet, thus enhancing the, accuracy ofthe j se e Another object is to provide ajli'noleum cutter of the above nature whereinthe guide means ;.c'ornprises a gauge member adapted .to embrace theedge oi-the sheet in advance of the .'cutting ,;e1ements,.so as to accurately locate the sheet for the beginning of thecutting operation.

" f Anotherobject is to provide amanually -oper- .ated linoleum cutter of the above nature which.

is so constructed as to cut the sheet'of material accurately without requiring special attention on the part of the operator for guidance of the cutter.

' A 'further object is to provide a linoleum cutfter .of the above nature which will be simple construction, inexpensivegto manufacture, easy to use and manipulate, compact. ornamental in appearance, and very efficient and durable With these n other objectsinyie'w there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing one form in which the invention "may conven- In the drawings: i

leum cutter as it would appear when in use for In order to hold the body plates Ill, ll in 'fspa'ced parallel relationship, provision is made .oi a pair of jelOnga'ted spacers 16, II which are secured in'pereuei relationship between opposite edges of the reduced plate portions I2, [3 by means of a plurality of spot welds it in such a manner as to provide a channel E9, the axis of which extends atright angles to the flanges 414,15.

' Inorder toassist in holding the edge of linoleu n sheet- L in a predetermined alignment between the body plates H3, Hffduring thfcutting operation, provision is made ofa .T'eshaped gauge member .20 having an elongated flat stem 2] which is slidably received within th'ebhah- Iihe gauge member 20 also compriseslan integral narrow cross piece .22 whichh'asits'outer edge disposed in spaced parallel.relationshipt o the plane of out-turned flanges it, l5 between the plates iii and H, and extends outwardly of the edges of said plates. The upper end of the cross piece 22 (as viewedin Figs. 1 2.11615) is proyidedwith a pair of forwardly-extending flange pie,ces..2 3, 24 which diverge at their forward ends -.and ,are secured to said cross piece by any jsuitablemeans, such asa pair of rivets 25.

.It will :thusbeseen that the edge of the sheet .L of linoleumfmay be inserted between the flange pieces .23, .213, and against the outer edge of the cross piece 22 between the body plates 18, II.

In order .to hold, the gauge member 25 against accidental ,changeslof adjustment during the.

cutting a strip from a sheet .of linoleum, thelatter beingshown in brokenilines.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the cutter, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. '3 is :a-front view of the cutterytaken from the line 3 .3 oflFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the same, taken-ion the line 4-4 of Fig. l.

,Fig. .5 is .a longitudinalfsectional view taken ,on the line .5'5 of Fig. 2, showing the interior convstruction-of the cutter.

;Fig. 6 is a side view of .one -of thexdoubletoothed cutting elements.

Referring now to the drawings, in like reference numerals denote. correspondinglj .parts throughout the several views, the numerals It and H indicate *a pair of spaced-apart flat body plates rhaving reduced rear end. portions Ii, .13

,and a pair of out-turnedcoplanar flanges 14, [5

at the front ends of said plates.

"i l screw 26 which is entered through aflorigii 1911- gaged'inagtappedaperture in the stem 2i. f1

itiidinaLslot 21v inthe body plate [0 and In order to out slit s in thelinoleum'lshet ,L and thus severa strip T therefrom, provision is made of .a pair .of thin flat cutting elements .23, vwwliich'are ,held tightly against the outer iacesof the flanges it, it, respectively, by. clamping,b1o,cl s .38, .3 I saidblocks beingheld .by pairs of screws 2,553 engaged through said flanges.

s As willbe seen in Fig. 6, each .of the cutting elements 28, 29 comprises ,a' rectangular body portion 34 :havinga ,pairof apertures 35, anda .pair of. spaced'V-shaped teeth 36, 31,.theedges of which.are sharpened. Itwill be understood that the apertures v35 are :sospaced asto receive the screws 32, fisfrvvhicharelentered through a erituresin the fiangesi i, l5 andthrough cheapertures 35 so as to be engaged in tappedapertiires inthe-clampingblockset, 3|. '1

;Provision is preferably .made ,of spring wash rs 8 ,for' preventing accidental looseningflof the screws 32, 33.

so mounted that the adjacent points of their re- 7 spective teeth 36, 31 will substantially engage each other, as illustrated in Fig. 3, although slight separation thereof will be unimportant.

As a means for determining the exact width of the strip T which is to be out, the stem 2| of the gauge member 20 is provided with a graduated scale 39 which is preferably laid out in inches. The scale 39 is so located upon the stem 21 that the alignment of the graduations with the rear end 40 of the body plate 10 will accurately indicate the distance of the outer edge of the cross piece 22 from the cutting elements 28, 29.

Operation loosening the screw 25 and sliding the stem 21 longitudinally to the desired position, after which the screw 26 will be tightened. If the desired width of the strip T is to be one inch, for example, the'graduation which indicates one inch will be set in alignment with the rear end 49, as shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the outer edge of the cross piece 22 of the gauge member 20 will be disposed exactly one inch inwardly from the cutting elements 28, 29, and parallel thereto.

A leading corner of the linoleum sheet L will now be inserted between the flange pieces 23, 24 and drawn downwardly while maintaining the edge of said sheet in engagement with the edge of the cross piece 22. movement of the sheet L will cause the pairs of V-shaped teeth 36, 37 to cut into opposite surfaces of the sheet L so as to form a slit S which is exactly one inch from the edge of said sheet, thus forming a strip T having an accurate uniform width.

It will be noted that the opposite surfaces of the sheet L and the strip '1 will be confined by the body plates I9, I l and also by the facing edge surfaces of theclamping blocks 30, 3| during operation of the cutter, thus maintaining the sheet L in a definite plane with respect to the points of the cutting teeth 36, 37.

In the event that the linoleum sheet L is large and cumbersome, it will be understood that there will be no necessity of moving said sheet during the cutting operation, inasmuch as the operator ma easily grasp the cutter and move it manually with respect to said sheet, the direction of movement being upward, as viewed in Fig. 1.

Since the leading end portion of the cross piece 22 is well in advance of the cutting elements 28, 29, the operating force which is exerted upon the body plates 10, H by the use will tend to hold the gauge cross piece 22 firmly in engagement with the sheet and thus guide the cutting elements 28, 29 firmly along the line of the intended slit S.

It will be understood that if the pairs of projections 36, 31 are slightly separated so as to leave a thin web of uncut material intermediate the Continued downward thickness of the sheet L, said web may be easily broken by the operator by bending the strip T upwardly or downwardly after the cutting operation is completed. The operator may, in fact, prefer to operate the cutter in this manner in order to facilitate subsequent handling of the strip- T, which may sometimes be very long and awkward to handle once it has become separated from the linoleum sheet L. 7

It has been found that the provision of two pairs of the V-shaped cutting teeth 36, 37 improves the operation of the cutter, and also provides very close control of the location and the form of the cut or slit S. [This is due to the resiliency of the material being out, which causes said material to yield to a certain degree when passing between a single pair of teeth so that the depth of the cut is not as great as would ordinarily be indicated by the depth of the teeth 33. The second pair of cutting teeth 31, being guided in accurate alignment with the slit S by the cross piece 22,.will increase the depth of the cut made by the first pair of teeth 39 without material increase of the cutting resistance.

In the event that sharpening or replacement of the cutting elements 28, 29 should be required, said cutting elements may be readily removed merely by taking out the pairs of screws 32,33 so as to release the clamping blocks 39, 3|.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and thatthe invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

In a cutter for sheet linoleum, a pair of spaced parallel body plates having an elongated T-shaped gauge member slidably disposed therebetween, the outer edge of said gauge member being disposed inwardly of the outer ends of said plates so as toform therewith a guide means for an edge portion of a sheet of linoleum to be cut, and a pair of cutting elements rigidly attached to outturned flanges on the outer ends of said plates, respectively, said cutting elements extending inwardly at right angles to said plates for engagement with the opposite surfaces of said sheet while it is held by said guide means' STANLEY F. BOBROWSKI. STANLEY L. BOBROWSKI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Aug. 27, 1935 

